URL Encoder

Encode text for safe use in URLs. Converts special characters to percent-encoded format.

Input Text:

0 characters

Output:

What is URL Encoding?

URL encoding, also known as percent encoding, is a mechanism for encoding special characters in URLs. URLs can only contain certain characters from the ASCII set, so other characters must be converted to a valid format.

Common Uses of URL Encoding

Query String Parameters: When building URLs with query parameters, encode both keys and values to prevent breaking the URL structure. For example, "search=coffee & tea" becomes "search=coffee%20%26%20tea". Without encoding, the & would be interpreted as a parameter separator, not part of the search term. This is the most common use case. Every search form, filter, or API with query parameters requires URL encoding.
API Endpoint Construction: REST APIs often include parameters in the URL path or query string. When calling APIs with user input, special characters, or dynamic values, encode parameters to prevent HTTP 400 errors. For example, searching for "[email protected]" in an API requires encoding the @ symbol: /api/users/user%40example.com.
HTML Form Submissions (GET): When HTML forms use method="GET", browsers automatically URL-encode form data before submitting. If you're building URLs manually or using JavaScript to submit forms, you must encode data yourself. Form encoding uses application/x-www-form-urlencoded format, where spaces become + (though %20 also works).
International Characters and Unicode: Non-ASCII characters (accented letters like é, ñ, ü, Chinese/Japanese/Korean characters, Arabic, Cyrillic, emoji) must be URL-encoded. The character is first encoded to UTF-8 bytes, then each byte becomes %XX. For example, "café" becomes "caf%C3%A9" (é = UTF-8 bytes C3 A9).

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RFC 3986 and URL Standard

URL encoding was standardized in RFC 3986 (2005), which defines the Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) syntax. The standard specifies which characters are "unreserved" (safe to use as-is: A-Z, a-z, 0-9, -, _, ., ~) and which are "reserved" (have special meaning: :, /, ?, #, [, ], @, !, $, &, ', (, ), *, +, ,, ;, =). Reserved characters must be percent-encoded when used literally in URLs. Before this standard, different systems used different encoding methods, leading to compatibility issues. RFC 3986 unified URL encoding across the web.

Security and URL Encoding

URL encoding makes data URL-safe but does not encrypt or secure it. Encoded URLs can be easily decoded. Always use HTTPS for sensitive data. Learn about encoding security

URL Encoding in Programming Languages

Every programming language provides URL encoding functions. Here are comprehensive examples:

// urlencode() - for form data (spaces become +)
$encoded = urlencode($data);

// rawurlencode() - RFC 3986 compliant (spaces become %20)
$encoded = rawurlencode($data);

// Building query strings
$params = http_build_query([
    'search' => 'coffee & tea',
    'category' => 'food/drink'
]);
// Result: search=coffee+%26+tea&category=food%2Fdrink

// encodeURIComponent() - for query parameters (use this!)
const encoded = encodeURIComponent('hello world & stuff');
// Result: hello%20world%20%26%20stuff

// encodeURI() - for complete URLs (rarely needed)
const fullUrl = encodeURI('https://example.com/path with spaces');

// Building URLs with parameters
const baseUrl = 'https://api.example.com/search';
const query = encodeURIComponent('[email protected]');
const url = `${baseUrl}?q=${query}`;

from urllib.parse import quote, quote_plus, urlencode

# quote() - RFC 3986 encoding
encoded = quote('hello world & stuff')
# Result: hello%20world%20%26%20stuff

# quote_plus() - form encoding (spaces become +)
encoded = quote_plus('hello world')
# Result: hello+world

# urlencode() - build query strings
params = urlencode({'search': 'coffee & tea', 'page': 1})
# Result: search=coffee+%26+tea&page=1

import (
    "net/url"
    "fmt"
)

// QueryEscape() - encode query parameter
encoded := url.QueryEscape("hello world & stuff")
// Result: hello+world+%26+stuff

// PathEscape() - encode path segments
encoded := url.PathEscape("hello/world")
// Result: hello%2Fworld

// Building URLs with parameters
u, _ := url.Parse("https://api.example.com/search")
q := u.Query()
q.Set("search", "coffee & tea")
u.RawQuery = q.Encode()

import java.net.URLEncoder;
import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;

// URL encoding (always specify UTF-8)
String encoded = URLEncoder.encode("hello world & stuff",
                                   StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
// Result: hello+world+%26+stuff

// Building URLs
String baseUrl = "https://api.example.com/search?q=";
String query = URLEncoder.encode("[email protected]",
                                 StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
String fullUrl = baseUrl + query;

require 'uri'
require 'cgi'

# URI.encode_www_form_component() - standard encoding
encoded = URI.encode_www_form_component('hello world & stuff')
# Result: hello+world+%26+stuff

# CGI.escape() - alternative
encoded = CGI.escape('hello world')

# Building query strings
params = URI.encode_www_form({search: 'coffee & tea', page: 1})
# Result: search=coffee+%26+tea&page=1

using System;
using System.Web;
using System.Net;

// HttpUtility.UrlEncode() - standard encoding
string encoded = HttpUtility.UrlEncode("hello world & stuff");
// Result: hello+world+%26+stuff

// Uri.EscapeDataString() - RFC 3986 (no System.Web dependency)
string encoded = Uri.EscapeDataString("hello world & stuff");
// Result: hello%20world%20%26%20stuff

Related Tools

Need to decode URL-encoded strings? Use our URL Decoder to convert percent-encoded text back to readable format.

Encoding binary data? Try our Base64 Encoder for converting binary data to text format.

Displaying text on web pages? Use our HTML Entity Encoder to safely encode HTML special characters.